Europol: Hardcore Criminals Are Shifting From Bitcoin to Monero, Zcash and Dash

A multitude of representatives of law enforcement agencies from around the world have talked about the use of bitcoin by criminal elements, sometimes revealing ignorance about cryptocurrencies in the process. Now it appears that Europol at least is trying to go deeper, learning about various altcoins and how they can be used too.

Criminals Go Alt

The European Union Agency for Law Enforcement Cooperation (Europol), formerly known as the European Police Office and Drugs Unit, is concerned that sophisticated criminals are switching to alternative cryptocurrencies while investigators are just focusing on bitcoin. Monero, zcash and dash are specifically mentioned as now appearing on the radar of the EU law agency.

Jarek Jacubchek, a Europol cyber-crime analyst, told Business Insider: “We can see a quite obvious and distinct shift from bitcoin to cryptocurrencies that can provide a higher level of privacy. So basically, you can achieve a higher level of privacy using these ‘altcoins’, and these altcoins are either using stealth as the basis, like monero. There are also coins like dash that do not have stealth addresses, they have transparent addresses, but they have a mixing process that is part of the protocol.”

Bitcoin Still Rules

This shift from bitcoin to altcoins is supposedly fueled by two ongoing trends. First, bitcoin exchanges are coming under regulatory pressure to adopt the same anti-money laundering and know your customer (AML/KYC) practices of traditional financial institutions, such as requiring photo IDs to open accounts, which are scaring away criminals. Second, most police forces are already aware of the potential use of bitcoin and are improving their ability to track down BTC transactions by suspects. Additionally, by shifting between multiple cryptocurrencies, people can better hide their tracks from investigators.

Despite all of this, bitcoin as the original cryptocurrency is still the most popular with criminals, just as it is with law-abiding citizens. The co-founder of cryptocurrency analysis firm Elliptic, Tom Robinson, explains that “the vast majority of illicit activity in cryptocurrencies is still taking place in bitcoin, because of its ease of exchange and more advanced infrastructure”.

Do you think criminals are shifting away from bitcoin to more anonymous altcoins? Share your thoughts in the comments section below!

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Avi Mizrahi

Avi Mizrahi is an economist and entrepreneur who has been covering Bitcoin as a journalist since 2013. He has spoken about the promise of cryptocurrency and blockchain technology at numerous financial conferences around the world, from London to Hong-Kong.

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